1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to rail car parking brakes and, more specifically, to an automatic parking brake cylinder for a truck mounted brake cylinder.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most rail vehicles have a manually-operated parking brake that applies the wheel brakes. Unfortunately, this requires that an operator manually apply the brake on each rail car in a train. As a result, an automatic parking brake, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,163,090, has been developed that will retain the braking system of any rail car equipped with the brake in the brakes applied position if brake pipe pressure is removed from a locking mechanism position about the shaft of the truck mounted brake cylinder. However, due to cylinder design, it is not always possible to position a locking mechanism about the shaft of a truck mounted brake cylinder. According, there is a need for an automatic parking brake that is not coupled to the shaft of the brake cylinder.